Wooden Creations Plus
BY CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
THE RECORD-REVIEW Wooden Creations Plus in Stratford continues to expand its array of products for customers while growing its work force.
Owners Mark and Kathleen Kunkel and their sons, Jon and Thad, operate their automated woodworking solutions business in a 30,000 square-foot building on STH 97 in the village of Stratford. The business has grown from having six employees two years ago to 14 since its expansion.
Wooden Creations Plus specializes in producing wood and plastic parts for a variety of commercial industries. The business’ capabilities include CNC routing, panel sawing (cut to size), edge banding, assembly, design, warehousing, fulfillment and more. Industries the company has supplied projects for include food, agriculture, small pet, electronics, sports floors, cabinetry, industrial, medical, construction, automotive and log home.
The business was established in 1999 in Mark and Kathleen Kunkel’s home in Little Rose west of Stratford. It began producing wood residential cabinets, doors and trim. The Kunkels moved the business to its current 30,000 square-foot building in July of 2003. The large building was the original Northern Star mobile homes and later on was a Don Smith Sales warehouse. It was a machine shop owned by a Green Bay man when Mark and Kathleen Kunkel purchased the building.
A fire burned the back half of the building in 2004, which Mark Kunkel said was “a blessing in the long run” because it forced him to remodel the entire building. He said the building was structurally sound with its beams but he had new concrete floor poured that includes hot water heat.
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CASEY KRAUTKRAMER/THE RECORD REVIEW Wooden Creations Plus
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Wooden Creations Plus had fireplace stores in Marshfield, Stratford, Eau Claire and Hudson from 2004 until 2008. In 2009, they converted their equipment and building over to the custom wood processing business that it is today.
Mark and Kathleen Kunkel’s sons are very involved in the business. Jon Kunkel has a degree in metal machining from Madison Area Technical College. He sets up the new equipment when it arrives at Wooden Creations Plus.
“We are like a metal shop but only for wood,” Jon Kunkel said in describing Wooden Creations Plus.
Thad Kunkel is in charge of the logistics such as the inventory and production schedule. Wooden Creations Plus operates from 6 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday thru Friday but it offers a flexible work schedule for its employees. Mark Kunkel said employees start working at different times in the day depending on their children’s school and daycare schedules. He said some employees work 25 hours per week while others work 40 hours. Some employees only work four days each week, for example the operator of the new CNC machine works from Tuesday until Friday. The employees are cross trained to operate different machinery so a person can fill in while the other person is gone from work.
“One thing that’s unique here is that we don’t mandate our employees to work overtime,” Mark Kunkel said. “If we have more work that comes in then Jon, Thad and me will work on Saturdays and Sundays to get it done.”
Mark Kunkel appreciates all of his employees. “We are very blessed to have honestly the best group of people that I’ve known working here, and the commercial businesses that we sell our products to are just as amazing as our employees,” he said.
